LESSON PLAN: Define The Groove
Objective
Students will be able to use comping patterns to give different songs individual personalities while using the same two chords.
Resources
Song charts and recordings for “Home” by Phillip Phillips, “Love Me Do” by The Beatles, “Imagine” by John Lennon, and “Waiting in Vain” by Bob Marley.
Procedures
- Listen to recordings of the songs
listed above. Point out that although the songs each sound completely different from each other, they are based on the same chord progression and sound different because of the way they use rhythm.
- Since all of the songs use two chords and the comping patterns involve both hands, make sure students know how to find the bass notes in the left hand using a “hand position” so they don’t have to look at this hand to play the notes. They’re
going to want to keep their eyes on the right hand which is playing 3 notes and harder to manage. Take a moment to make sure students can find these two left hand notes with their eyes closed.
- Run through the four comping patterns one at a time making sure students can manage the rhythms and chord change in each one. Stay with each individual pattern until they can play it over and over without stopping.
- Sing the songs as a group and then try playing along with the singing! These songs can be performed individually or strung together in a medley.
National Core Arts Standards (Music)
Anchor Standard 4: Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
Example: General Music MU:Pr4.2.5 a. Demonstrate understanding of the structure and the elements of music (such as rhythm, pitch, form, and harmony) in music selected for performance. Common Core Correlation: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.3.2.F Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.